When news broke that the San Diego Padres-New York Mets trade was called off because of medical red flags with Chris Paddack, Twitter was set ablaze. However, the Minnesota Twins trading for Paddack was a good decision, even though he’s undergoing Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career.

Breakdown of the trade:

• Minnesota received:
  • Chris Paddack
  • Emilio Pagán
  • Brayan Medina

• San Diego received:
  • Taylor Rogers
  • Brent Rooker

The Twins are paying the majority of Rogers’s contract this season, which was to be expected. Despite how good he’s been this year for the Padres, Minnesota wasn’t going to re-sign him this offseason. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and at 32, the Twins were not going to pay him $8-10 million.

Rooker is not a young prospect anymore. He’s 27 years old and has yet to make a substantial mark on an MLB roster. He hasn’t got any playing time for the San Diego Padres this season, but he’s been with their Triple-A affiliate team. This year he’s batting .250, with four home runs and 11 RBIs.

Despite Paddack going on the 60-day IL and undergoing Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career, the Twins still have him under team control for the next two seasons. He won’t be a UFA until 2025, and at that point in his career, he will 29 years old. On top of that, Paddack will likely make less than $3 million next season.

If he can return to form, then the Twins will be happy with this trade. Losing him this season to a serious injury sucks, but you trade a reliever for a young quality starter under team control any day of the week.

Pagán is not Rogers, but that doesn’t mean Pagán isn’t a good reliever. He’s given many fans, myself included, a lot of heart-racing appearances. Overall he’s been solid and is 0-1, with an ERA of 1.54 in 11.2 innings this season.

He’d be a lot better suited if the Twins moved him to a seventh or eighth-inning role. He has closing experience, but he lets the game get away from him too many times.

Medina is Minnesota’s No. 13 prospect in the system. At 19 years old, it’s likely we don’t see him at Triple-A or the majors until 2025 or 2026. He could play a role out of the bullpen in the future, but it’s too early to tell. Nonetheless, a talented young man who has promising stuff is not a bad throw-in.

At the end of the day, the Twins were not going to re-sign Rogers, and Rooker was never going to get playing time with Trevor Larnach, Nick Gordon, Byron Buxton, Gilberto Celestino and Max Kepler ahead of him on the depth chart.

Making this trade makes sense, and I’d do this move every single day of the week. They received a good starter under team control, a solid reliever and a talented prospect.

Let us know in the comment section below how you feel about this trade.